INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING REVIEW

ISSN: 2582-6271

Vol.1 No.2; 2020

ETHNOBOTANICAL, CHEMICAL PROFILE AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF PITCHER (Nephentes bellii)

John Manuel C. Buniel Surigao del Sur State University-Cantilan Campus

ABSTRACT The study determined the process how the medical process and utilization of (Nephentes bellii). This is a descriptive- investigative study where it pursued to investigate facts and accurate data. The respondent includes forty-five (45) individuals who manifest knowledge in using the plant as an herbal medicine. Specific, plant parts were gathered from three different sites, namely: Baranggay Cabangahan from municipality of Cantilan and Baranggay Bon.ot and Adlay from the municipality of Carrascal. The plant samples were subjected to laboratory analysis to determine its chemical components and its antimicrobial property. As it is the main objective of the study. All the assays mentioned were done at the Department of Science and Technology Testing Laboratory.

Findings revealed that majority of the respondents used and Pitcher of the plant as herbal medicine. Decoction and Infusion were the most common method in preparing the herbal plant. Frequent urination is the most common condition identified on the utilization of pitcher plant as herbal medicine. The chemical analysis showed that pitcher plant (Nephentes bellii) leaves and pitcher contain phytochemical essential for treating different diseases, likewise the result of the microbial analysis showed a “very active” rating.

KEYWORDS: Pitcher plant (Nephentes bellii), Chemical Profile, Antimicrobial Activity

I. INTRODUCTION Different species of pitcher plant have long been used as traditional medicine by many aboriginal communities, and have attracted renewed pharmaceutical interest due to recent investigations revealing their cytoprotective activities in cell models (Harris 2012). A species of pitcher plant bellii is endemic to the . It is popular on Dinagat and northern Mindanao; and was discovered on a trip to the Philippines by Katsuhiko Kondo in 1968 (McPherson, 2009).Together with other known species of Nephentes genus, Nephentes bellii has been one of the that are used as an alternative medicine to treat constipation, urinary tract problems, digestion problems, fluid retention, and other conditions (Cakilcioglu and Turkoglu 2010). In North America, the plant has a history of use as both a marketed pain therapy and a traditional medicine in many aboriginal communities. Preparations of the leaves and the plant’s long slender pitchers became known to be beneficial in treating symptoms of diabetes, and in particular slow healing infections (Leduc, et al. 2006). http://ijaser.org Page 20

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING REVIEW

ISSN: 2582-6271

Vol.1 No.2; 2020

In a report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Nephentes belli a species of a pitcher plant is now considered as endangered due to habitat loss caused by human activities (McPherson 2009). However, the population of Nepenthes bellii has never been estimated accurately, but is thought to number in thousands, as it is present in northeastern Mindanao Clarke et al., (2000)

The scenarios described above motivate the researcher to conduct this study especially that the results provides sufficient information about the benefits can be obtained to the pitcher plant (Nephentes bellii) specifically in the medicinal aspect. The purpose of the research was to determine how the pitcher plant (Nephentes bellii) is used as herbal medicine; the part of the plant to being used, the plant preparation and the specific conditions to be treated. Likewise, validating the phytochemicals in the leaves and pitchers of the pitcher plant and testing its antimicrobial activity. In addition, species protection is also taken into account by community education, recognizing that the plant is endemic in the area and threatened for possible extinction.

This study is anchored to the Optimal Foraging Theory that predicts (1) individuals will place higher value on plants that yield more benefit per unit of foraging/processing time; (2) as the abundance of plants with higher value increases, plants with lower value will no longer be used; and (3) individuals should have a quantitative threshold to decide when specific plants should be included or excluded (Sih and Christensen 2001).

II. METHODOLOGY The research used a descriptive-investigative model in which details and accurate data were examined. The respondents include forty-five (45) people who are familiar with the use of the plant as a herbal medicine in the following areas: Baranggay Cabangahan from Cantilan Municipality and Baranggay Bon.ot and Adlay from Carrascal Municipality. The accepted questionnaire checklist was used to determine the mode of preparation of the herbal plant by the participants, the portion of the plant being used and the particular conditions being treated. The plant samples from three identified sites were sent to the DOST-testing laboratory for phytochemical screening and antimicrobial assay to ensure the validity and efficacy of the procedure. The procedure that was used for the aforementioned test is based on the Regional Standard and Testing laboratory of Department of Science and Technology.

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING REVIEW

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III. RESULT

Table 1. The Herbal plant utilization for medicinal value in its parts, mode of preparation and ailment treated

50 45 43 38 39 45 40 34 36 40 45 30 22 28 16 30 20 12 44 10 43 20 0 42 41 10 Ailments Treated 41 0 Fever 40 Mode of Preparation Body Pains 39 Liniment Boils Plant Part Decoction Minor Wounds Infusion Polyuria Leaves Pitcher Placed on top of the Affected Muscle Spasm

Table 2. Phytochemical constituents present in pitcher plant leaves and pitchers from three different sites

Site Plant Parameter Part Alkaloids Steroids Flavonoids Saponins Tannins A Leaves ++ + + - + Cabangahan Pitcher ++ + + - + B. Leaves ++ + + - + Bon.ot Pitcher ++ + + - + C. Leaves ++ + + - + Adlay Pitcher ++ + + - + Legend: ( + ) Present (-) Absent

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING REVIEW

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Table 3. Microbial analysis result E.coli (Gram -) mean result S. aureus (Gram +) Site Plant Part in mm mean result in mm Leaves 16 19 Site A (Cabangahan) Pitcher 25 25 Leaves 16 22 Site B (Bon-ot) Pitcher 24 20 Leaves 16 19 Site C (Adlay) Pitcher 21 22 Legend: < 10mm – inactive, 10-13mm- partially active, 14-19 mm active, >19mm very active

IV. DISCUSSION Table 1. Shows that all of the 45 respondents used the leaves for the most common part of the plant and 41 or 91 percent used pitcher. The finding is verified by Gruyal's research (2016) when she announced that the leaves are the most commonly used as medicine in Surigao del Sur. The most common method of preparing herbal medicine is decoction and infusion in the preparation mode. The result can be attributed to the study on the Temuans by Ong et al. (2011) and on the Malay villagers by Ong and Nordiana (1999), the very common preparation method was to boil the plant part or decoction until a desired concentration was achieved. In addition, the most common ailment the herbal plant treats is: polyuria or urinary frequency, bus-aw as they usually say, with a response of 39 or 87 percent from the total respondents.

Table 2. Above displays the three leaves and pitcher extract samples varying from different sites showed the exact same results from the phytochemical analysis. Alkaloids, Steroids, Flavonoids, and Tannins are present in the extracts, while the absence of Saponins is observed. Amirkia (2014) stressed that alkaloids have a wide range of pharmacological activities including antimalarial, anticancer, analgesics and antibacterial. Steroids can spur healing in burn patients. Some types of steroids are used to reduce inflammation. The drugs used to treat asthma attacks are a form of steroid (McGwire 2010). Meanwhile flavonoids are well known as antibacterial agents against a wide range of pathogenic microorganism, it attracted much interest because of the potential to be substitutes for antibiotics (Xie et al., 2015). The absence of Saponins clearly shows that Pitcher plant (Nephentes bellii) is safe for human consumption as herbal medicine. Saponins is toxic compound and can be found in many plants (Hostettmann and Marston, 1995).

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Results in table 3. Shows different types of bacteria also cause different types of infections, and different types of antibiotics are effective against them (Bush 2018). This statement postulates positive impact to pitcher plant as an antimicrobial agent. Based from the chemical analysis result, pitcher plant contains phytochemical that are essential for human health, likewise in the microbial analysis conducted to both gram positive and gram negative bacteria the result is promising as evidence of reaching the very active level as per interpretation in the result. These outcomes prove the coherence why the respondents utilized pitcher plants (Nephentes belli) treating different ailments since the result in microbial analysis shows the effectiveness of pitcher plant in inhibiting the growth of both gram positive and gram negative bacteria.

V. CONCLUSION Since then, the respondents have been practicing herbalism because they know different methods of herbal plant preparation. Their planning means are based on their ancestors ' inherited expertise. Pitcher plant (Nephentes bellii) produces phytochemicals that are useful as a medicine and have the ability to kill micro- organisms. Lastly, Pitcher plant (Nephentes bellii) originating from different sites does not matter in terms of its antimicrobial activity, but results depending on the bacteria type.

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